"Researchers at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth and City University of Hong Kong are said to have combined cardiac tissue engineering, a 3D-printed wing structure and a light-sensitive gel to produce the soft robot," writes The Engineer. "The switchable device transforms its shape when exposed to skin-penetrating near-infrared light, causing it to start and stop through fluid environments like the human bloodstream.

"The team in Hong Kong produced the original robot design and performed the experimental tests. In the US, researchers performed mechanical and numerical analysis on the device.

"'With this technology we can create soft transformable robots with unprecedented manoeuvrability,' said Zi Chen, an assistant professor of engineering at Thayer."